The St. Louis Cardinals face multiple big roster decisions before Tuesday's 3 p.m. CT Rule-5 Draft protection deadline.

The Cardinals currently have five members of their Top-30 prospects that are eligible to be taken in December's Rule-5 Draft. If St. Louis wants to protect itself from losing those players, they need to put them on the 40-man roster by that deadline.

The only issue? They only have three roster spots open on the 40-man, so they can't protect everyone. However, there's some nuance, as we'll cover later.

Who are the players?

Leonardo Bernal, C (No. 4/MLB No. 92)

Joshua Baez, OF (No. 11)

Cooper Hjerpe, LHP (No. 13)

Blaze Jordan, 1B (No. 18)

Brycen Mautz, LHP (No. 21)

The frustrating part

Because the Cardinals are set to go through a rebuild, they likely want to keep anyone who is young, projectable and under team control (like all of these players). It would be frustrating to lose any of them for Chaim Bloom and new front office regime.

The possible solution 

If the Cardinals want to open up enough roster spots to keep everyone, they could non-tender or designate additional players for assignment.

About the players

1) Bernal, 21, is one of the top prospects in baseball, so he's a lock to get protected. A recent winner of the MiLB Gold Glove Award at catcher, he spent 2025 with Double-A Springfield, hitting .247 with 13 home runs and 70 RBIs.

Here's a portion of what his MLB.com prospect profile reads:

A switch-hitter, Bernal does a solid job of swinging at pitches inside the zone, and he's done an impressive job of cutting down in his entire whiff rates back in the Texas League in 2025, His swing-and-miss can be more pronounced from the right side at this stage, likely because he’s gotten so many more plate appearances as a lefty so early in his career

2) Now 20 years old, Baez played with High-A Peoria this season after being acquired from the New York Mets. He hit .242 for the minor league season, including .243 with the Cardinals organization (27 gasmes).

He likely does not need to be protected, considering he's not developed enough to stick on an opposing team's 26-man roster the entire season. That's the nuance we were talking about. If a player is taken in the Rule-5 Draft, they have to stick all season in their new location (if healthy).

3) Hjerpe, 24, was a first-round pick in 2022. He reached as high as Double-A this season, going 2-4 across the board with a 3.27 ERA. He also is not likely developed enough to stick on another roster, meaning he also probably doesn't need to be protected.

4) Jordan, 22, reached as high as Triple-A this season, playing 85 total games at the level between the Red Sox and Cardinals organization. Originally drafted by Bloom with Boston, the team acquired him in a deadline deal for Steven Matz. Expect him to be protected.

5) Mautz, 24, was a second-round pick in 2022 and went 8-3 with a 2.98 in 25 starts for Double-A Springfield. Expect him to be protected as well.

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